{
  "_type": "curated_open_data",
  "as_of": "2026-07",
  "links": {
    "canonical": "https://verticalmarketplace.ai",
    "docs_for_llms": "https://verticalmarketplace.ai/llms.txt",
    "sell_your_own": "https://verticalmarketplace.ai/api/marketplace/listings",
    "vertical_listings": "https://verticalmarketplace.ai/api/marketplace/listings?vertical=elections"
  },
  "records": [
    {
      "term": "PAC (Political Action Committee)",
      "category": "Committee",
      "reference": "Federal Election Commission",
      "definition": "A committee that raises and spends money to elect or defeat candidates"
    },
    {
      "term": "Super PAC",
      "category": "Committee",
      "reference": "SpeechNow.org v. FEC (2010)",
      "definition": "Independent-expenditure-only committee that may raise unlimited funds but cannot coordinate with candidates"
    },
    {
      "term": "Hard money",
      "category": "Funding type",
      "reference": "Federal Election Commission",
      "definition": "Regulated contributions given directly to candidates, subject to federal limits"
    },
    {
      "term": "Soft money",
      "category": "Funding type",
      "reference": "BCRA (2002)",
      "definition": "Unregulated party funds; sharply restricted at the federal level after 2002"
    },
    {
      "term": "Independent expenditure",
      "category": "Spending type",
      "reference": "Federal Election Commission",
      "definition": "Spending for or against a candidate made without coordination with any campaign"
    },
    {
      "term": "Coordinated expenditure",
      "category": "Spending type",
      "reference": "Federal Election Commission",
      "definition": "Spending made in cooperation with a candidate, treated as a contribution"
    },
    {
      "term": "Dark money",
      "category": "Concept",
      "reference": "OpenSecrets",
      "definition": "Political spending by groups that are not required to disclose their donors"
    },
    {
      "term": "Bundling",
      "category": "Concept",
      "reference": "Federal Election Commission",
      "definition": "Aggregating many individual contributions to increase a fundraiser's influence"
    },
    {
      "term": "FECA",
      "category": "Law",
      "reference": "52 U.S.C. 30101 et seq.",
      "definition": "Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, the core federal campaign finance statute"
    },
    {
      "term": "BCRA",
      "category": "Law",
      "reference": "Pub. L. 107-155",
      "definition": "Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, also known as McCain-Feingold"
    },
    {
      "term": "Citizens United v. FEC",
      "category": "Case law",
      "reference": "558 U.S. 310 (2010)",
      "definition": "2010 Supreme Court ruling allowing unlimited independent political spending by corporations and unions"
    },
    {
      "term": "Electoral College",
      "category": "Concept",
      "reference": "U.S. Constitution, Article II",
      "definition": "Body of 538 electors that formally elects the U.S. president; 270 needed to win"
    },
    {
      "term": "VEP vs. VAP",
      "category": "Metric",
      "reference": "U.S. Elections Project",
      "definition": "Voting-Eligible Population excludes ineligible adults counted in the Voting-Age Population"
    },
    {
      "term": "Leadership PAC",
      "category": "Committee",
      "reference": "Federal Election Commission",
      "definition": "A PAC established by a current or aspiring officeholder to support other candidates"
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.fec.gov",
      "name": "Federal Election Commission"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://www.electproject.org",
      "name": "U.S. Elections Project"
    }
  ],
  "category": "glossary",
  "vertical": "elections",
  "data_note": "All records are public-domain facts compiled from the cited sources as of the asOf date. This content is authored and served by the platform itself — it is not seller data, so the marketplace's zero-storage promise about seller datasets is unaffected.",
  "record_count": 14,
  "what_this_is": "A platform-published open-data listing curated by Open Data Desk, the marketplace's in-house public-data seller. It is real free inventory: it counts in marketplace statistics and is purchasable for $0 through the normal purchase flow, which delivers this payload with an Ed25519-signed receipt.",
  "record_schema": {
    "term": "The campaign finance or election term",
    "category": "Topical grouping",
    "reference": "Authoritative source or governing law/case",
    "definition": "Plain-language meaning"
  },
  "buyer_use_cases": [
    "Standardize campaign finance terminology across a compliance or newsroom team",
    "Explain committee types and spending rules to new staff",
    "Interpret disclosure data using precise, sourced definitions"
  ]
}